A manufacturing defect affecting a small number of iPhone 5s devices has led to a significantly shortened battery life and larger charging times, the company told the New York Times.
The Apple iPhone 5s, which was introduced in September, is supposed to have a considerably longer battery life than its predecessors - rated up to 10 hours on 3G, but a fault has caused the battery to drain quickly.
"We recently discovered a manufacturing issues affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5s devices that could cause battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life," Teresa Brewer, an Apple spokeswoman, said in a statement to the Times. "We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone."
Apple did not say how many iPhones were defective but its statement implied that it was a few thousand phones, according to the Times.
A manufacturing issue is not the same as a defective battery, which some users though was the problem with their phones. iPhones don't have user replaceable batteries, making the life of batteries of paramount importance.
According to TechCrunch, iPhones get comparable battery life to other mobile devices in the same size and thickness.
If that reputation for decent battery life is going to be maintained, TechCrunch recommends that Apple make sure that they clamp down on this issue quickly. Apple did not give specific details on the manufacturing issue or how it plans to contact affected users.
However, smartphones from Motorola, Samsung and more have made design decisions that allow them to get greater battery life by packing them in larger or thicker battery packs.
After the launch of iPhone 5C and 5S, Apple said it had sold nine million new iPhones in the first weekend they went on sale. Apple has faced problems with manufacturing defects in the past.
In 2006, it issued a recall for some laptops because their batteries contained cells manufactured by Sony, which were causing some batteries to explode.
